McKechnie awards: don't miss the deadline

Friday 18 November 2005

The deadline for entries to this year's Sheila McKechnie Community Food Initiative awards is 5 December. Each of the two winning schemes wins £15,000 over three years.

The awards, which were first launched in September 2004, commemorate the contribution that Dame Sheila McKechnie made in helping to set up the Agency.

They celebrate the valuable contribution that community food initiatives make to their local communities, in terms of improving access to high-quality food at affordable prices.

Two community food initiatives will be chosen every year and each will receive
15,000 (
5,000 a year) over a three-year period.

Last year's winners of the awards were the Buttershaw Eatwise Project in Bradford, which provides a community caf
and food co-op for local residents, and the 'Get Fresh' Project in Dorset which runs cookery workshops and sources local food to sell within rural communities.

Julia Unwin, FSA Deputy Chair, said: 'As a passionate campaigner on food issues, Sheila would have been proud of the standard of entrants we had in the first year of the award scheme. Community food initiatives have a very important role to play in encouraging people to think about the food they eat and where it comes from.

'It will be exciting to see what new initiatives enter this year.'

The judging panel for this year's award includes Channel 4 broadcaster Jon Snow, Deputy Chair of the FSA Julia Unwin and Professor of Food Policy at City University Tim Lang.

Interested community groups are asked to submit an outline of how they would use the funding to help develop their work in tackling community food issues.

All shortlisted projects are then visited by the Agency so that they can see the project in action.

The deadline for entries for the 2005 award is Monday 5 December 2005. The winners will be announced at the Agency's Board meeting in March 2006.

Further details and an application form are available from the link below. Alternatively, a form can be obtained by emailing mckechnieaward@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk or telephoning 020 7276 8170.